Augustus o



A. 0. BOURN.

RUBBER B001. v

Patented Apr. 1. 1884,

Inventor (No Model.)

' UNITED STATES PATENT OFF E.

AUeUs'TUso. BOURN, on BRISTOL, REIODE ISLAND.

- RUBBERQBOOT.

. SPECIFICATION forming partof Letters PatentNo. 296,119, dated April 1, 1884;

Application filed January 4, 1884. (No moaal.)

To all whom it may concern/ Be it known that I, AUGUSTUS O. BOURN,

of Bristol, inthe county of Bristoland State of Rhode Island, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rubber Boots,

&c. and I do hereby declare that the following specification, taken in connection with the drawings furnished" and forming a part of the p i i 1 same, is a clear, true, and complete description of my invention.

It is well known that the uppers of rubber boots and shoes as ordinarily constructed are liable to crackor break incrosswise lines adjacent to the ball of the foot, and also sometimes said uppers are made thick and heavy said higher up on the instep. In proportion as liability isdecreased; but the desirable results or strengthened at intervals by the application e of longitudinal ribs to the inner surface of the in that respect are more than offset by the e I 1 lack of flexibility in the upper, which renders the boot or shoe too stiff and clumsy for comfort to the wearer, andtherefore it is desirable that theuppers have separated longitudinal portionsof considerable thickness and in- 1 I tervening portions of lesser thickness, whereby, without unduly impairing its flexibility, the upper is rendered less liable to break laterally. Rubber boots and shoes have heretofore had their uppers longitudinally stiffened upper, in which case a double service was performed by said ribs, in that they not only i re-enforced the upper in longitudinal lines, but

they also afforded intervening spaces, which served as ventilating-ducts between the foot or inner shoe of the wearer and the rubber boot or overshoe, as fully shown and described in the United StatesLetters Patent of Pease,

N 0. 11,947, November 14, 1854. Rubber boots I of gum compound overlying the ribbed surface and vulcanized thereto. By the use of this fabric in light goods, no separate inside lining is needed and a boot or shoe'witha smooth inner surface is obtained, and I obviate the expensein manufacture incident to the labor involved in the use of the separate longitudinal strips; and as the fabric used by me has its integral ribs always uniform in their dimensions, and as they are equally spaced, I am able to economically produce goods of uniform appearance, such as can only be produced by the expenditure of much extra care and labor when the separate longitudinal strips are employed.

To more particularly describe my invention, I will refer to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a side View of a boot embodying my improvement. Fig. 2is a lateral section of the same in front of the instep. Fig. 3 is a top View of the integrally-ribbed fabric employed as thefoundation for the upper. Fig. 4 is a lateral section of said fabric.

The foundation fabric A may be woven or knit, as may be desired; but I prefer that it be a knittedfabric, because of its well-known elasticity. However said fabric may be manufactured, it must be provided with the integral longitudinal ribs a, in which the yarn is so massed as to render them much thickerand heavier than the fabric at the intervening spaces, 1), thus radically differing from ordinary knit ribbed fabrics, which are practically uniform in thickness and have ribs which are alternatelythrown to the front and to the rear of the fabric, and which, therefore, are ribbed on both sides, instead of being ribbed on the front side only, as shown in the drawings, whereinthe rear surface or back of the fabric a is smooth or plain.

WVhen my uppers are made up on a last, the gum sheet dis so applied to the'ribbed front surface that it. is intimately u'nited thereto, and so that the outer surface of the finished upper is longitudinally ribbed or corrugated in eXact conformity with the fabric foundation, as clearly shownin Fig. 1.

When the preferred knitted fabric is employed, the finished boot has always a desirable fancy finish not before attained in that the spaces between the ribs present the appearance of having been ornamentally embossed in symmetrical wave lines; and, if desired, similar efi'ects can obviously be produced with woven ribbed foundations.

It. will be seen that in the manufacture of light goods I need use no lining, because the rear or inner surface of the foundation of the upper is smooth and sufficiently solid and compact to afford comfortable wearing contact. I11 heavier goods a lining can, however, be employed, if desired, without in any manner departing from my invention.

1 Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent A rubber boot or shoe having a longitudinally-ribbed upper, composed of the usual sheet of vulcanizable gum compound, and a foundation fabric having integral longitudinal ribs on its front or outer surface and a plain or smooth inner surface or back, substantially as described.

AUGUSTUS O. BOURN.

Witnesses Ozno O. BARROWS, PHILIP I-I. GoYLn. 

